Clay-washing machine.



No.792, 031. PATENTED JUNE 13, 1905. G. B. HERRIGK 8; J. W. BALDWIN.

CLAY WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.15, 1904.

2 SIIEIEBTS-SHZHEiI 1.

I attowwyi No. 792,031. PATENTED JUNE 13, 1905. C. B. HERRIGK & J. W.BALDWIN.

GLAY-WASHING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 15, 1964. V

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2v Ilivrrn STATES Patented June 13, 1905.

CHARLES B. HERRICK AND JAMES W. BALDW'IN, OF OTTAI/VA, ILLINOIS.

CLAY-WASHING IVIACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 792,031, dated June13, 1905. Application filed November 15,1904. Serial No. 232,843.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES B. HERRIGK and Janus W. BALDWIN, citizensof the United States, residing at Ottawa, in the county of Lasalle andState of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements inClay- IVashing Machines; and we do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

Our invention relates to clay washing and pulverizing machines; and itconsists of cer tain novel features of construction and combination ofparts, the preferred form whereof will be hereinafter clearly set forth,and pointed out in the claims.

The prime object of our invention, among others, is to provide a machineof the character specified whereby gravel and all coarser particles maybe effectually removed from the clay, leaving only the washed clay readyfor being applied to the various uses for which it is found suitable.

A further object of our invention is to employ a relatively largerquantity of water for action upon the crude clay, whereby the action ofthe water will assist in disintegrating the coarser lumps or pieces ofclay, thereby insuring that a perfect separation of the clay proper fromits foreign substances or sul stances not suited in the manufactureswherein clay is employed will be set up.

Other objects and advantages will be hereinafter made clearly apparent,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are made a partof this application, and in which Figure 1 shows a top plan view of ourinvention complete ready for use. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of Fig. lon line 2 2 thereof. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on a linesubstantially at right angles to the line of division shown in Fig. 2.Fig. 4 is a sectional view looking downward as taken on line 44 of Fig.3. Fig. 5 shows a detail view of a section of the agitating-tank orrotating receptacle employed by us in holding a charge or given quantityof crude clay to be treated.

Briefly stated, our invention may be said to consist of a suitablereceptacle for receiving the crude clay, said receptacle being rotatablymounted in position and provided with a plurality of perforations andalso with an agitator designed to act upon the contents thereof when thereceptacle is turned, it being understood that said receptacle is almostwholly immersed in water, which latter" is confined around the sides ofthe rotating receptacle by an auxiliary tank or hopper, which is heldstationary by suitable framework.

For convenience of description the various parts of our invention andcooperating accessories will be designated by numerals, the same numeralapplying to a similar part throughout the several views, and, referringto the numerals on the drawings,\l indicates uprights of any preferredcharacter, while 2 designates the cross-beams, secured to the uprightsin any suitable way, whereby a complete supporting-framework will beformed, and upon the framework thus or otherwise constructed we locatecertain cooperating accessories comprising, first, a stationary tank 3,preferably having a conical or tapered bottom section and anoutlet-orifice or throat 4, and within the open end of the casing orstationary hopper 3 we mount the rotating clayreceptacle 5, which isprovided with a plurality of perforations 6 throughout its sides andalso throughout the bottom 7 thereof. IVe prefer to so form saidperforations 6 that they will project slightly inward, which may bereadily accomplished by producing the per' forations from the outside,as will be readily understood by those skilled in such work, though wereserve the right to form them in any desired manner which we mayhereafter consider most efiective.

It will be observed that the perforated receptacle is firmly secured tothe lower end of the rotating shaft 8, which latter is suspended in itsbearings 9 in the middle cross-beams 2 by means of the gear 10, which isfirmly secured to the upper end thereof and is placed in mesh with thedriving-gear 11 upon the shaft 12, the latter extending into engagementwith any suitable source of power.

In order to insure that the contents of the receptacle 5 will bethoroughly agitated, we 1 secure at a convenient point upon the lowercross-beam 2 the agitator-blade13, as by means of the bolts or pins 14or equivalent thereof, and it is obvious that when the perforatedreceptacle is rotated the contents therein will be moved against theagitator-blade 13, which latter is preferably obliquely disposed,whereby the crude clay within the receptacle will be moved inwardly,insuring a perfect cominingling of the clay and water, which latterrises through the perforations to a point nearly at the top of thereceptacle, as shown by reference to Figs. 2 and 3. 7e also locate inthe tapered bottom of the stationary tank or receptacle 3 a suitablediaphragm as, for instance, a plurality of cross-bars 1 1' and 15, heldin cooperative relationship in any preferred manner-or said diaphragmmay be otherwise formed as desired, the office subserved by saiddiaphragm being to separate the lower and upper portions of the water inthe tank 3, whereby the water below said diaphragm will be held in aquiescent condition and will not be as greatly agitated as will be theupper portion of the water incident to the rotation of the perforatedreceptacle and the discharge therefrom of the pulverized clay. \Ve alsoprefer to provide the lower portion of the perforated receptacle with anannular inwardly-directed flange 16, which is designed to deliver thefalling pulverized clay toward the center of the receptacle 3, and it isobvious that the clay thus pulverized will pass downward on the inclinedwalls of the stationary receptacle to and through the dischargingorifice or chute 4. It is found, however, in practice that it is verydesirable to leave a certain quantity of pulverized clay in the lowerportion of the receptacle 3, whereby said lower portion below thediaphragm and also the discharging-chute 4 will be filled, which willprevent the escape of the water in the upper portion of the tank 3 abovethe diaphragm, thereby holding the water in position to immerse and actupon the clay within the rotating perforated receptacle 5, as will beobviously clear.

It is thought from the foregoing description, considered in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, that the construction and manner ofusing our invention will thus be made fully apparent, though it may bestated that the operation thereof is as follows: The perforatedreceptacle is filled with the clay to be treated and water introducedtherein,which will cause a sufficient amount of the pulverized washedclay to pass through the perforations 6 to stop up or completely closethe discharging-orifice 4, when sufficient water may be introduced intothe receptacle to almost or wholly immerse the'same. Power is thenapplied to the shaft 12, which will insure the rotation of theperforated receptacle, bringing the contents thereof against thestationary agitating-blade and causing complete disintegration of themass of clay, when by gravity the liner portions of the clay will passthrough the perforations and thence downward into the lower portion ofthe stationary receptacle below the diaphragm above described. After themachine has been driven a suflicient length of time to leave behindwithin the receptacle 5 a mass of stones and other foreign substances inthe clay the machine may be stopped and the perforated rcceptaclemanually cleansed, as by using a shovel, and when so freed of the massof gravel, &c., left therein it is ready for a new charge of clay, itbeing understood that a sufficient quantity of pulverized clay shallhave been left in the discharging orifice or chute 4: to retain thewater in a stationary tank. We are thus enabled to use the water overand over again, requiring only small additions of water from time totime to keep the perforated tank properly immersed. As the mass of clayin the perforated receptacle is thus thoroughly agitated by thestationary blade incident to the rotation of the receptacle, a completeseparation of the clay is effected.

The various parts of our invention may be cheaply and expeditiouslymanufactured and each readily assembled in its operative position, andwhile we have described the preferred combination and construction ofparts, we desire to comprehend in this application all substantialequivalents and substitutes.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The herein-described clay washing and separating machine comprising asuitable frame; a stationary tank secured in position by the frame andhaving a discharging-orifice at its lower end and adapted to be filledwith water, in combination with a perforated tank rotatably mounted inthe upper end of the stationary tank; means to rotate said perforatedtank; an agitator-blade cooperating with the contents of the perforatedtank; a diaphragm separating the upper and lower portions of thestationary tank whereby the water below the diaphragm will be leftunagitated substantially as specified and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a clay washing and separating machine, the combination with astationary tank and a frame therefor, said tank having adischarging-orifice at its lower end, of a perforated tank rotatablymounted in the upper end of said stationary tank, means to rotate saidperforated tank, an obliquely-disposed agitating-blade cooperating withthe contents of the perforated tank, and means to separate the upper andlower portions of the stationary tank whereby the water below saidseparating means will be left unagitated.

below the diaphragm will be left unagitated, all combined substantiallyas and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES B. HERRICK. JAMES W. BALDWIN.

Witnesses:

J. O. LESLIE, Time. 0. MooRn.

